The Game Currently virtually all Soccer games can be classified under
two gaming styles: the first person arcade style action game or
the Football Manager game. Tactical Soccer gives you a third choice.

Tactical Soccer is a turn-based simulation
of the soccer match.

You control all 11 players at the
same time. So instead of shouting at your left back to ‘get forward’
you control him and can build up an attack exactly how you want.
You are the coach and have real control of the team.

Tactical Soccer is the thinking person’s
soccer game.

Game Outline

Play Options You decide on whether to play a:
- single exhibition match
- knock out cup tournament (32 teams)
- league (16 teams)

Exhibition Match Selecting exhibition match will allow you to play head
to head against another human player on the same machine or against
a computer opponent.

You set the game parameters such
as whether it’s for one or two human players, rename the teams
and level of difficulty (the higher the number the harder the
game will be).

Team Set-up On this screen you can:

- Change the name of your team (just click on it and hit enter
when finished editing).

- Spend points to improve your players
abilities (Tactical Soccer has lots of stats which represent each
soccer player. At the start the coach has a certain amount of
money/points to train players to meet their needs – set by the
difficulty level). LMB increases the rating, RMB decreases – note
some ratings have a minimum level and cannot be set any lower.

- Change the player’s name.

- Sort them by position by pressing
No.

- Change the team’s strip.

- Alter the player’s position and
therefore the team’s formation. Just click on their shirt number
on the pitch and then where you want them to move to.

- Promote substitutes. Just click
on their shirt and then on one of the substitutes (12 to 16) shirts.

- Save and load your favourite teams.
(Note the team strip is currently not saved).

This allows players to create their
own teams – which they can save and use to play against their
friends. The rating % can be used as a form of handicapping.

Player Stats/Abilities Very little happens by chance in Tactical Soccer, for
instance whether the ball is controlled by the player or not is
set by their rating for that skill. Here are the skills:

Skill

Used

Speed

How fast they move without
the ball

Turn

How fast they can turn – Players
have to turn to the direction they are heading before they
move

Control

When a ball is passed to them
this decides whether they control it

Stamina

How long they can run before
getting tired

Tackling

How good at tackling they are

Heading

How good at heading

Volley

How good at volleying

Throw-in

How far they can accurately
throw the ball

Dribble

How fast they can run with
the ball

Pass – short

Chance of doing a successful
close-range pass

Pass – medium

Medium range pass

Pass – long

Long pass

Close Control

How quickly they can turn with
the ball

Shoot – short

Chance of scoring from short
range

Shoot – medium

Medium range shots

Shoot – long

Long range shots

There are some other attributes which you cannot directly set
but are calculated by Tactical Soccer.

Energy

Current Energy level – reduces
as the player runs around

Shielding

To help evade tackles – based
on their tackling, close control and control

Bend

How much bend they can put
on the ball – based on their passing and shooting

This really puts you, the coach,
in control. You decide who plays in what position and these skill
ratings will set how they play.

The MatchTactical Soccer follows the standard rules of soccer. The
game itself is turn based and flows as follows…

Note: At kick-off
the player with the ball will automatically pass the ball to the
team-mate next to them when you hit end turn. This is known as
Automatic Kick-off.

Coach 1: Selects
players with the LMB (left mouse button) and clicks to the spot
where they should run to on the pitch. RMB cancels the move. They
can also get players to turn around and also to be prepared to
jump to head or volley the ball.

If the player
has the ball they can select where they want to pass the ball
to. In addition they can set the height of the pass and the bend.

The coach
then hits end turn, and the ball gets passed and his players move.
Note: the opposing goalie will automatically react to shots on
goal and players will automatically try and head the ball if it
arrives to them in the air.

Coach 2: Now
takes over and gives the orders to his players.

Coach 2 then
hits end turn, and the ball gets passed and his players move.
Note: once again the opposing goalie will automatically react
to shots on goal and players will automatically try and head the
ball if it arrives to them in the air.

The game continues
between the two coaches until time is up. The teams will switch
at half time.

The game is
really as simple as that to play. However you get a great deal
of variety due to the skill mix of teams and their formations.

Beginners
ModeTo help new
coach’s get into the game an alternative control mechanism is
available (you can toggle between the two using the S key). The
difference is that whenever the coach gives a command to a player
(where the player should move or pass to) the control moves to
the next player nearest to the ball in their team and the camera
moves to look at the player with the ball in the distance. If
you do not want to give an order to a player then use the RMB
but click on a space on the pitch clear of players. This handholding
mode therefore takes the coach around all of their team members.
When the coach has finished giving orders they can select end
turn – just as normal. By default this mode is on.

Game
ControlsWhat happens
when you click on the pitch depends on what player is selected
and whether they have the ball or not.

Player
Selection

Select:
LMB on the feet of the unselected player: selects the player (circle
appears around them). To help you select a player the mouse pointer
changes to a hand when you are over a player.

Selected
Player does not have the Ball

Move:
LMB on pitch sets the move-to point (yellow X marker and tracer
dots appear. Yellow tracer dots indicate the player should reach
these points this turn, red dots indicate they will not get there
this turn).

Heading:
Hold LMB down on selected player and the jump arrow appears, move
the mouse around (while still holding the LMB down) to set where
the header will go. Release the LMB to set the heading.

Alter Direction
that they are Facing: Hold RMB down on selected player and
the turn arrow appears, move the mouse around (while still holding
the RMB down) to set which way the player should face. Release
the RMB to set the direction that they should turn and face.

Dribble:
LMB on pitch sets the move to point (yellow X marker and tracer
dots appear).

Pass:
LMB on selected player switches you to pass mode (there is an
icon on the side that has the same affect). Now when you move
the mouse the pass-to point (red X marker and tracer dots) moves.
When you reach where you want the ball to end up, press and hold
the LMB. While holding the LMB, moving the mouse sets the height
and bend of the pass (vertical mouse motion sets the height while
horizontal motion the bend). Releasing the LMB sets the pass up.
The colours of the tracer dots indicate whether this pass is considered,
short, medium or long. You can also shoot on goal – if you click
the mouse in the goal the pass tracer pattern will be slightly
different and the player will kick the ball harder.

Cancel:
RMB on pitch cancels move or pass/shot.

Note: the
player has the choice of either passing or moving each turn –
they cannot do both.

Camera
ControlCamera controls
are found on the keypad (with Num lock on):

Key

Camera Motion

4

Scrolls Left

6

Scrolls Right

8

Scrolls Up

2

Scrolls Down

1

Lowers Camera

3

Raises Camera

0

Zoom In

Stop

Zoom Out

Minus

Raises Look at Point

Plus

Lowers Look at Point

Divide

Rotate Anticlockwise around
Camera

Multiply

Rotate Clockwise around Camera

7

Rotate Anticlockwise around
Look at Point

9

Rotate Clockwise around Look
at Point

Moving the mouse to the edge of the
screen will start it to scroll.

In addition the following keys are
useful to move around and select players:

Key

Result

F

Toggles follow mode – camera
centres on selected player

S

Toggles Beginner mode – End
Turn only becomes active after player 11 has been selected.

Backspace

Move camera to ball’s location

D

Toggles follow ball mode –
camera follows ball at end of turn

T

Toggle camera being at pitch
level

N

Select next player in team
(camera moves if follow mode is on)

M

Select previous player in team
(camera moves if follow mode is on)

G

Select goalie

2 to 9

Select player numbered 2 to
9

0

Select player 10

1

Select player 11

Up Arrow

View selected player from south

Down Arrow

View selected player from north

Left Arrow

View selected player from west

Right Arrow

View selected player from east

Game Controls

Key

Result

SPACE

End Turn

P

Toggle Pass Mode

ESCAPE

Exit Match and return to menu

ALT & X

Immediately Exit to Windows

I

Change the amount of data on
the Info panel that appears on the bottom left of the screen.

Icons Besides End Turn and Pass, System also appears. System allows
you to save the game, restart the game, exit to Windows and also
access a further options screen that allows you to set the audio
and configure how the game plays.

General Game RulesHere are some general rules:

Players can move all of their team
each turn.

To tackle someone just move your
player into the player with the ball.

Players that are tackled are ‘stunned’
for one turn and cannot move.

Kick-off takes place automatically
when you hit the first end turn, with the ball being passed to
the nearest attacker. This means that at the start you cannot
give move orders to the two strikers involved in the kick-off.

Stamina/Energy This allows Tactical Soccer to simulate match tiredness.
Players will have to be (subject to their stamina rating) used
sparingly and will not be able to run around all the time. When
their energy drops below their stamina their speed slows.

Offside Is implemented – so don’t goal hang.

Substitutions When the ball goes out of play the subs icon appears.
Click it to access a panel. Scroll through the subs available
until you find the one you want to come on.

Fouls Are implemented – as well as penalties.

Injuries Text messages will appear if a player gets injured as
a result of a bad tackle. It will be up to you to substitute them.
Until then their performance will suffer.

Games VariantsKnockout cup and league play variants are available in
the full version.

System RequirementsYou need Windows 98 or 2000 or XP. Plus if you haven’t
got XP you’ll need at least DirectX 8 (which is available from
Microsoft as a free download). As for machine spec: you need at
least 8 Mb of video RAM (the more the better), a 400 MHz processor
or higher, DirectX compatible soundcard and mouse. To be honest
we find it impossible to predict whether it will run on any specific
machine so why not just download the free demo version and see.
Demo VersionYou can only play a single exhibition match which will
last three minutes of game time (about 36 turns).

Thanks for your time and we hope
you enjoy PlaceForGames: Tactical Soccer.
Everyone at PlaceForGames